Bottle-capping apparatus



C. G. BELDEN. BOTTLE CAPPING APPARATUS.

K APPLICATION FILED APII.5, I9I9.

UNITED STATES Parr.

NT omer.

CLEMENTS BELDEN, 0F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE CROVN CORKv.AND SEAL COMPANY OF BALTIMORE CITY, A CORPORATION 0F MARYLAND.

:BOTTLE-carriere APPARATUS.

' f Application led April 5,

T 0 all whom t may concern Be it known that'I, CLEMENTS G. BELDEN, acitizen of the United States, vresiding at Baltimore and State ofMaryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Capping Apparatus, fully `described and represented in the followingspeciiication and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to bottle capping apparatus. l

Inesuch machines, of a recognized type, there is a bottle support and acapping head having` relative movement and the stroke of this relativemovement vis Xed. The throat device associated with the head is forcedagainst the bottle with a predetermined pressure thereby to effect aseal and secure the cap to the bottle. As bottlesof a given trade sizevary somewhat in height the predetermined capping pressure is ordinarilyset for the shortest bottle and provision vmust be made forcompensating` for an over long bottle. Y

It is an object of the present invention to provide bottle cappingapparatus such that the excess pressure is released substantiallyimmediately upon the predetermined pressure being exceeded.

' It is a further object of the invention to provide apparatus oii' thesort described capable of giving the maximum amount of compensation.

With these general objects in View, the invention consists in thefeatures, details of construction, and combination of .parts which willfirst be described in connection with the accompanying drawing, and thenmore particularly pointed out.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is a view in vertical section of a portion of a 'bottle cappingmachine constructed Vin accordance with the invention;

and

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a different position of the parts.

Referring to the drawing, l1 represents a capping head having a housing12 at one side thereof. `Associated withl the capping head is a throatdevice movable relatively thereto. Although capable of variousconstructions, as here shown, there iS provided Specification of LettersPatent.

i 1* Patented Nov. 22, 1921.

1919., serial No. 287,711.

a throat carrier v13 having a long sleeve portion 14: slidable in thecapping head 11. The throat carrier is normally held in a loweredposition, withrespect to the head, by a spring 15 and this relativedownward movement is limited by a nut 16 threaded into the head andengaged by a shoulder 17 on the sleeve; In the throat carrier is afrustoconical throat ring or capping die 18. As-

sociated with the capping head is a presser foot 19 slidable in lanannular shoulder V20 formed on the interior of the sleeve 14, and in asleeve 21 formed on a top nut 22. The presser foot is normallymaintained in its lowered position by a spring 23 which bears againstshoulder 20.

In the capping machine here illustrated the compensating mechanism issuch as to cause the throat device to act as a unit with the head aslong as predetermined capping pressure is not exceeded. and to permitthe throat device to yield relatively to the head when such pressure isexceeded, thereby to relieve the bottle of the excess pressure.

This compensating mechanism includes a spring, a lever acted upon bythis spring, a force transmitter associated with the lever, and aconnector betweenthe Jforce transmitter and the throat device.

lhile the spring and its arrangement with respect to the lever may varyin construction, the present embodiment includes a coil spring 25 seatedin a thimble 26 carried byA the housing 12, and bearing against a collar27 on a rod 28 slidable in a lug 29 formed on the housing. As shown inthe present embodiment, a lever 30 is pivotally mounted in the cappinghead on a pin 31. Atr its free end, this lever has a notch 32 with ahooked end 33 and this notch takes under a pin 34 on the collar 27. Withthis construction, vit will be seen that the spring normally retains thelever in the positionV shown in Fig. 1 and that an upward force on thelever in excess of the spring pressure will cause the lever to swingupwardly, compressing the spring, as in Fig. 2. Y l

The invention includes a force transmitter movable to make a shiftingcontact with the lever. This may, for example, be a second lever.Although capable of various con- Y latter that in the normal position ofthe.

structions, as shown` inthe present embodi-h ment, pivotally mounted inthe housing 12 on a Vpin 36 is a lever 37. This lever is relativelyshort Vin comparisoirto the first lever 30v and it 1s so arrangedAwlthrespect tothe parts '(Fig. 1) the free end of lever 37 is betweenpivot 36 and pivotV 31 and the icon--k tacting portion ot lever 37 isadjacent the pivot of leverY 30. y f

. It will be seen that if lever 37 is swung upwardly from normalposition ,its free end will make a shifting Contact with lever 30.

In order to prevent vundue wear ofthe parts,V in the embodiment Vhereshown, that portion j Vof lever 3T 'which engages lever 30 is a rollingbearing 438 set in asuitable socket. lIt will` be clear from the drawingthat the .lower Y spring 25 isthreaded into the housing By adjusting theposition of this thimble the 4an auxiliary spring.

ing against the underside of lug29 is anV edge of lever 3,0 isof aproper configuration to always present a surface to beengaged by therolling bearing 38. That is to say, le-'IV a link 40 having rounded ends41, 42. The` end 41 visV pivotally vmounted in a socket Vformed in thelever'37 and end 42 is similarly mounted in a socket tormedin aplate 43carried by the sleeve 14.` Y

It desired the rod 28'may be acted upon by As here shown, bearauxiliaryspring 44, the oth-erV end of which bears against a Vnut 45 threadedonto the lower VVend ofrod 28. To inclose this end of the rod and itsspring, there is threaded into housing. 12 a housing thimble 46.

Means is provided for adjusting the predetermined capping pressure. Thismay be accomplished, for example, byfadjusting that force of the springwhich acts on the lever. As-showrn'thimble 26 which forms a scatter 12.

torce of spring 25 is varied las desired;

In describing the operation of the mechanism, spring25and the auxiliaryspring 44 may betreated as one. Further, it may be assumed that therelative'movement of cap- Y ping head and bottle isobtained by elevatingthe bottle to astationaryhead.

As this movement takes place, the bottle neck enters the throat ringengaging and displacing the presser foot. As long as the i pressurebetween'thel bottle and the throat ter, lever and spring.

does not-exceed predetermined-capping pressure, as controlled by spring25, the head and throat device act as a unit as the throatv device isheld down bythe link, force transmit- Should capping pressure beexceeded, the `force Yof the spring is overcome. The pressure on thelink causes the forceV transmitting lever 37 to swing upwardly incontact with lever 30, thus swingingthe latter-upwardly against thespring.

VBy this movement` of the parts the-throat device yields andVthuscompensates or the extra long bottle.`

Vith theconstruction described, the leverj age exerted by lever v30 onthe torce transmitter is relatively great when the parts are in normalposition, so that onlya comparatively small spring-is necessary tomaintain capping pressure. At the same time, it is noted that, with .theforce transmittermaking a shitting contact withl lever 30, away from itspivot, the leverage exertedxrapidly diminishes softhat thespringpressure is rapidly overcome and compensation is almost immediate.1 Y

The Varrangernent ot'levers and linkage also makes possible a maximumamount of compensation.V i

Further,l with the .construction described, the maximumload on thespring when the lever is in its uppermost Vposition is kept as low 'aspossible. w

Vhat is claimed is t.. y

1. In a capping apparatus, the combinationwith a capping head, of athroat device carried by said head and movable relative thereto, acompensating spring, alever acted upon by said spring, aV forcetransmitter'in engagement with said'lever and movable to make a shittingcontact along-said lever, and-Va connector between said iorcetransmitter and said throat, device and having a pivotal relation withsaid elements.v

2. In a Vcapping' apparatus, the combinaion with a capping head, of athroat device carried by said head and movable relativel thereto, acompensatingspring, a lever acted upon adjacent its free end by saidspring, a torce transmitter normally engaging said lever adjacent itsJfulcrum' and 'movable to make a shifting contact along said lever,

Vand a connector between said force transmit-- ter andsaid throat deviceand having :a pivotalv relation with said elements.-

3. In a capping apparatus, the combinatio with a capping head, of athroat device carried by said head and movable relative thereto, a

compensating spring,a lever acted uponbyV said spring, a movablev forcetransmitter carrying a rolling bearing to make Vshifting contact alongsaid lever, VVand a connector between said force transmitter and saidthroat make shifting contact therewith, and a connecting link betweensaid force transmitting lever and said throat device.

5. In a capping apparatus, the combination with a capping head, of athroat device carried by said head and movable relative thereto, aspring, a lever pivoted in said capping head and having its free endacted upon by said spring, a :torce transmitting lever substantiallyshorter in length than said first named lever, and pivoted in thecapping head to have its free end normally engaging the first namedlever adjacent its pivot and to be movable to make shifting Contact withthe first named lever in a direction away from said pivot, and aconnecting link between the force transmitting lever and the throatdevice.

6. In a capping apparatus, the combination with a capping head, of athroat device carried by said head and movable relative thereto, alever, a force transmitter acted upon by said lever, a connector betweensaid force transmitter and the throat device and having a pivotalrelation with said elements, and means for yieldingly holding said leverin normal position.

7. In a capping apparatus, the combination with a capping head, of athroat device carried by said head and movable relative thereto, alever, yieldable means acting on said lever to hold the same in a normalposition within the limits of a predetermined force, a force transmitteracted upon by said lever, and a connecting link between said forcetransmitter and the throat device.

8. In a capping apparatus, the combination with a capping head, of athroat device carried by said head and movable relative thereto, alever, yieldable means acting on said lever to hold the same in a normalposition within the limits of a predetermined force, a force transmitteracted upon by said lever and movable to make shifting contact along saidlever, and a connecting link between said force transmitter and thethroat device.

9. In a capping apparatus, the combination with a capping head, of athroat device carried by said head and movable relative thereto, acompressing spring, a lever acted upon by said spring, a Jforce'transmitter normally acted upon by said lever with relatively greatleverage and movable to make shifting contact along said lever to reduceVthe leverage exerted, and a connecting link between said forcetransmitter and the throat device.

10. In a capping apparatus, the combination with a capping head, of athroat device carried by said head and movable relative thereto, acompensating spring, a lever acted upon by said spring, a forcetransmitter in engagement with said lever and movable to make a shiftingcontact along said lever, and a connecting link in pivotal relation withsaid force transmitter and said throat device. A

l1. In a capping apparatus, the combination with a capping head, of athroat device carried by the head and movable relative thereto, aspring, a lever acted upon adjacent its free end by said spring andhaving a portion thereof formed with a cam surface, a force transmittinglever pivoted in the capping head to have its free end normally engagingthe lirst named lever adjacent its pivot and to be movable to makeshifting contact with said cam surface, and a connecting link betweenthe force transmitting lever and the throat device.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

cLEMnNTse. BELDEN.

Witnesses:

FRANK L. LLOYD, L. I-I. GOLDBRIGHT, J r.

